At the 33rd annual contest, held March 12 2013, the Circo
family continued its recent domination of top spot. Matteo Circo,
winner of the 32nd contest, not only set a new all-time record, he
surpassed the previous high mark, set by his brother (see below) by
a very wide margin. Leaving nothing to chance, Matteo built his tied
arch structure to support an amazing 273.55 kg. For those not
inclined to SI units, that corresponds to 603 lbs. When the Circo
brothers appeared on the scene the contest record had stood
unchallenged for a decade at 209.4 kg. Now they hold three of the
top four all-time top spots for this long-running event. (pictures
from the 2013 event above)

New (2011) Contest Record: 220.0 kg

At the 31st annual contest, held March 15 2011, a
ten year-old record was broken as Physics 12 student Gino Circo, the
winner of the 2010 contest, blew past the previous mark to set a new
record of 219.95 (rounded to 220.0) kg. The previous record had been
deemed out of reach by students for the past decade. Gino's bridge,
based on his successful structure design from his entry in his
Physics 11 year, was copied by others but none of those structures
were up to the standards of construction set by this graceful entry.
At the right is pictured the new Port Mann Superbridge (a
cable-stayed structure) with the original steel arch bridge in
front).

Previous record-holding 100-gram bridge built in 2000 by Physics 12 student
Matt Sullivan. This photo was taken after the bridge was put back together
from the remnants. A portion of the roadway is missing. In an attempt to
reduce overall mass several holes were drilled in the upper portion of the
structure.
Typical preparation before testing. Bridge is carefully placed on testing
beams and testing apparatus is gently lowered into place. Cable in
foreground was used to transmit live webcam feed during testing.

Bridge Breaking Graphic
created by
Antonio Papalia
March 2003

Matt Sullivan with his award-winning bridge at the trophy presentation
ceremony. The trophy, held here by sponsoring teacher Peter Vogel, has been presented
annually since 1981. APEGBC, the professional body that governs engineering
in this province, has been a contest sponsor since 1999. In 2001 we welcomed
Dofasco Steel as a sponsor. For 2002 we welcomed CSCE, the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering, the UBC
Engineering Physics program, GlobalIntercom.com and SFU's School of Engineering Science as
sponsors. More recently we have added Buckland and Taylor, one of Canada's
most famous bridge design firms, SRC Engineering, Hatch Mott MacDonald,
Stantec, FortisBC,
The British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) and the Applied Science
Technologists and Technicians of BC. Visit our
sponsors' page for further information.

This contest has been held annually since 1980.
Hundreds of bridges have been tested. The students who take part in the contest are
enrolled in either Physics 11 or Physics 12 at Notre Dame
Regional Secondary School in Vancouver, BC, Canada. All physics students at
Notre Dame take part in the contest. While there is an evaluation component to the
contest, the primary aim is for students to experiment with materials, in this case balsa
wood and glue, and learn about structure and strength. Instructors wishing more
information on the contest, in particular on the way it is run, may wish to contact me directly. A package of materials is available
for instructors at a nominal fee to cover photocopying and shipping costs. A contest such
as this is relatively straightforward and inexpensive to offer. There is no need for any
"sophisticated" testing equipment.